Earlier this past week, Yelp announced it had released a new tool for businesses to help assess and estimate how much revenue the site was helping them generate.

One problem with social media has always been the difficult task of determining its return on investment (ROI). Thanks to Yelp, at least one social platform has taken step in an attempt to make calculating this an effortless task.

In the article, Yelp writes:

This new FREE tool does the math by multiplying customer leads sent from Yelp each month by the business’s average revenue per customer lead. We’ve also included the average spend per customer for each business category for reference, based on the BCG study.

In part, the tool “establishes a revenue baseline for prospective advertisers” – which is to encourage more businesses using the service to buy advertising. But this is a good thing; when a social company can demonstrate the value of its service, the value of its advertising, all while showing how both connect to the user’s ROI, well, it makes paying for that advertising all the more appealing.

Here’s a sample screen shot of what you can expect:

I’ve long been a fan of Yelp. It’s what I use to find hot spot eateries when I’m on the road or do not know the area. Whether, as a consumer-focused business owner, you use Yelp advertising or now, I at least encourage you to own and monitor your space. Keep an eye on reviews, understand how your customers see your business.

Even before their Revenue Generating Tool, Yelp has provided a wealth of information for the small business owner that, when used strategically, can help that business grow, learn and become the best it can be.